leather seats

[Benson]

Leather seats are really cracked - 1985 Carrera Targa Is it posible to bring them back to life?


Thank you,
Benson

[82SC]

search on the web for leatherique...heard nothing but great things...no personal experience...

some who have tried it will prob chime in...

pictures help too!!

MJ

[LeeH]

Here's an excerpt from a Grassroots Motorsports article on their project M3:

The black seats were right on the edge of being unusable, with stress cracks from being not cared for properly. They received our immediate attention. First, we vacuumed and cleaned them with CRC Chemical's Tannery All Purpose Leather Cleaner.

Next, we went to Wal-mart (America's sophisticated center for high-class auto repair) and bought every type of shoe polish and coloring agent they had. Fortunately, our seats were black, so matching the color was easy. We found what worked best was a $2 bottle of Kiwi Elite Premium Liquid Shoe Polish. We liberally doused the seats with this black liquid goop, let it dry overnight, and went back over the seats with CRC's Tannery Vintage Leather Cleaner and Conditioner. Unbelievable--the seats that we thought we were going to replace now look almost new. A month later, they still look just as good. We will just have to keep after them with leather treatment.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.grmotorsports.com/m3project.html

[Emission]

Where do you buy "Leatherique" conditioner?

[jmohn]

http://www.leatherique.com
I think it's a good product for cleaning and conditioning (I use it) and if you follow the directions will certainly soften dry neglected leather, but it's not magic. If your seat are split or worn through or have failing seams NOTHING will "restore" them.

Good luck.

Jerry M
'78 SC

[steve911]

Benson-
I think it depends upon how cracked is really cracked. I bought an '85 Targa two years ago and the seats were REALLY cracked and the leather was stiff as a board. I tried Lexol several times (hadn't heard of Leatherique), all to no avail.

I finally bit the bullet and had the seats redone - real happy that I did.

here's what I it looks like now:



and what it looked like before:

[Porschephanatic]

Steve, where did you have them recovered? Looks like they did a beautiful job, and mine are about due to be redone. Thank you.

[North Coast Cab]

I did the leatherique thing to soften the 17 year old worn-out seats. It really works great and softened things up. However, I then used liberaly amounts, probably more than recommended, of crack filler to get the smooth finish back. Once it was done I put several coats of dye on. When finished they looked fantastic. Then I started to use them again. The seats flex and stretch inevery direction and almost immediately the dye and finish started to crack. They still look 100 times better than before, but not what I had hoped. I invested $120 and probably 6 hours labor, far less than the $1000+ tp get them redone. There was a recent post about istalling custom seat covers which has me interested. I think you can go that route for $400+ for vinyl and $800+ for leather. Good luck.

JG

[911nut]

I refurbished the leather in my SC last winter with Leatherique products.
The cracks are in the "tanning" which is a lacquer-based paint. Once the tanning is removed with lacquer thinner the cracks will be removed or minimalized as well.
I used the crack filler to cover up bad wear on the side bolster of the driver's seatand a few cracks. It's still holding up.
Do a search; I'm almost certain I posted before and after pictures.

[brawlins]

I don't see how you can bring cracked seats back to life. I was too cheap to buy brand new leather, so I waited until I found a reasonably inexpensive set off E-Bay. (I kept one of my seat bottoms, and the rest I replaced with the E-Bay stuff.) Then I hadd all the seat re-dyed by a Professional and they look great.

[Benson]

Originally posted by brawlins
I don't see how you can bring cracked seats back to life. I was too cheap to buy brand new leather, so I waited until I found a reasonably inexpensive set off E-Bay. (I kept one of my seat bottoms, and the rest I replaced with the E-Bay stuff.) Then I hadd all the seat re-dyed by a Professional and they look great.

Thanks for the post!
I like your suggestion and experience. Thanks for sharing!

Benson

[Benson]

Originally posted by North Coast Cab
I did the leatherique thing to soften the 17 year old worn-out seats. It really works great and softened things up. However, I then used liberaly amounts, probably more than recommended, of crack filler to get the smooth finish back. Once it was done I put several coats of dye on. When finished they looked fantastic. Then I started to use them again. The seats flex and stretch inevery direction and almost immediately the dye and finish started to crack. They still look 100 times better than before, but not what I had hoped. I invested $120 and probably 6 hours labor, far less than the $1000+ tp get them redone. There was a recent post about istalling custom seat covers which has me interested. I think you can go that route for $400+ for vinyl and $800+ for leather. Good luck.

JG

Great Post! Thanks for sending it.

Benson

[Benson]

Originally posted by North Coast Cab
I did the leatherique thing to soften the 17 year old worn-out seats. It really works great and softened things up. However, I then used liberaly amounts, probably more than recommended, of crack filler to get the smooth finish back. Once it was done I put several coats of dye on. When finished they looked fantastic. Then I started to use them again. The seats flex and stretch inevery direction and almost immediately the dye and finish started to crack. They still look 100 times better than before, but not what I had hoped. I invested $120 and probably 6 hours labor, far less than the $1000+ tp get them redone. There was a recent post about istalling custom seat covers which has me interested. I think you can go that route for $400+ for vinyl and $800+ for leather. Good luck.

JG

Thank you for responding to my question. Great post!

Benson

[Benson]

Originally posted by 911nut
I refurbished the leather in my SC last winter with Leatherique products.
The cracks are in the "tanning" which is a lacquer-based paint. Once the tanning is removed with lacquer thinner the cracks will be removed or minimalized as well.
I used the crack filler to cover up bad wear on the side bolster of the driver's seatand a few cracks. It's still holding up.
Do a search; I'm almost certain I posted before and after pictures.

Thank you 911nut!

Great post, Your the best!

Benson

[Emission]

Well, I am going to order some of the Leatherique products. We'll see...

Thanks for the link.

[fastbydrmike]

Get Lexol. If this product doesn't bring the leather back, you will not be able to!

[agabriel]

Stay away from the armorall car seat care (tan bottle) it doesn't work...

Anthony

[autobonrun]

The owner's name is George and he's very helpful. I'm re-dyeing mine as we speak. In fact, you can still see the dye is wet in one spot in the photo. It darkens as it dries so don't worry about the color difference. I still need to dye the sides. At this point, I've just done the top. I would recommend sending in a sample of your leather so it can be matched. You can get a swatch from underneath. In my case, I sent my rear seat cushion in as a sample. They returned it of course. If you look closely, some leather is actually a two tone, light against dark blend, although when you step back it appears to be one color. I had never noticed that until he brought it to my attention. There's a name for this pattern, but I don't recall it at this time. The first batch of dye I received was too light, so I sent it back and they made it darker. This matched very closely.

You should order the Pristine Clean, Rejuvenator, and Prepping Agent. If your seats have cracks, then get the Crack Filler also. Mine actually ripped in the area where you see the wet dye. You then have to repair the rip before you apply the Filler. You want the crack to be as small as possible. I used some heavy canvas soaked in textile glue and inserted it under the leather and pulled it back together and gave it a day to dry. The crack filler is white, which requires a few extra coats of dye to cover. I'm thinking I could mix a small batch of filler with some of the dye so it is not as difficult to cover.

I do my seats now about once a year to keep them looking good. The Rejuvenator restores oil to the leather. After you clean them, on a good hot day, soak the seats good in the Rejuvenator and leave the car out in the sun all day with the windows up. This sauna effect helps the oil soak into the leather and softens them up. George recommends you clean the seats and use the rejuvenator before applying the prepping agent and dye. Then after the dye has cured for two days, you can use more Rejuvenator and rub that on. Use lots of Rejuvenator oil, it should be a heavy wet coat. You'll wipe off what doesn't soak in.

Good luck.

[Benson]

Thank you Mr. autobonrun!

What a great Post! You really helped me out.

Benson

[Benson]

Originally posted by agabriel
Stay away from the armorall car seat care (tan bottle) it doesn't work...

Anthony

Thank you fastbydrmike and a agabriel!
Great things to know!!

Benson